SMM: on July 23, Daimler released its second-quarter financial results. Financial results show that the company has withstood the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic and performed better than expected.
Specifically, in the second quarter of this year, Daimler Group sold a total of 541800 passenger and commercial vehicles, down 34% from 821700 in the same period last year; revenue fell 29% to 30.2 billion euros (same period in 2019: 42.7 billion euros); profit before interest and tax was negative 1.682 billion euros (same period in 2019: negative 1.558 billion euros); adjusted profit before interest and tax was negative 708 million euros (same period in 2019: 2.447 billion euros); A net loss of 1.906 billion euros (compared with a net loss of 1.242 billion euros in the same period in 2019); industrial free cash flow was positive and industrial net liquidity remained stable compared with the first quarter of 2020.
"We have seen the first signs of a recovery in sales," said Kang Linsong (Ola Kallenius), Daimler's chief executive. Kang Linsong, 51, is leading the group to implement a restructuring plan to vigorously cut costs, aimed at improving the efficiency of the group. Initially, Daimler expected to cut 10, 000 jobs; this month, Wilfried Porth, Daimler's head of personnel, said the company would have to cut more than 15000 jobs; now people familiar with the matter say the company plans to cut its labour costs by 2 billion euros, which could put 20, 000 jobs at risk.
In view of the spread of the epidemic, car production and sales have been affected, cost-cutting is the key for car companies to maintain growth momentum. Daimler and union representatives are still negotiating layoffs. The final number of layoffs will depend on a number of factors, such as the acceptance rate of voluntary buyouts and the outsourcing of some IT services.
In the second half of the year, the outlook for the auto industry remains uncertain, as major auto markets, including the United States and the United Kingdom, are still struggling to contain the epidemic. However, Daimler expects its operating profit to be positive this year.
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